The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged VOIP
It’s cheaper to fly than call
May 31st
Link: Rebtel Blog » Blog Archive » Rebtel research: Cheaper to fly than to call
Some interesting research courtesy of Rebtel – in fact UK Sunday tabloid News Of The World found it so interesting they wrote an article all about it.
SKY-HIGH international mobile phone charges can make it cheaper to FLY abroad for a chat with a pal than to call them up.
Industry insiders have told the News of the World that UK customers are charged up to 50 TIMES what the networks actually pay for international mobile-to-mobile call time.
You got to feel a little sorry for the operators of late. If it’s not one thing it’s another.. but on the flipside, if they really are making such a ridiculously high margin, they’ve only got themselves to blame if the Government and EU decide to launch an investigation into it.
Jajah get funding from T-Mobile owner
May 29th
Link: BBC NEWS | Business | Deutsche Telekom backs VoIP firm
Deutsche Telekom is backing the internet telephone company Jajah, becoming the first major phone company to support such technology.
T-Online Venture Fund chairman Andreas Kindt said in a company statement: “By investing in companies like Jajah, we will be able to continue to bring users around the world the innovative solutions they are looking for.”
Curious and curiouser. So on one hand you’ve got Vodafone and Orange, in the ‘VOIP is bad for business as people won’t use our network to make voice calls, so let’s block it every way we can’ camp - and on the other T-Mobile’s parent company who’ve just pumped a load of cash into a VOIP related company.
This one will be interesting to watch…
Wi-fi signals big change for mobiles
May 21st
Link: BBC NEWS | Technology | Wi-fi signals big change for mobiles
As the numbers turning to 3G are climbing, those mobile networks could be forgiven for thinking that it was only a matter of time before they started recouping the considerable capital cost of buying and building that network.
Unfortunately the relentless pace of innovation may be about to dent the dreams of recovering those costs.
Includes wise words from the founders of Truphone and Jajah. Definitely worth a read!
Truphone va internazionale
May 18th
Link: Truphone
Just had an email from mobile VOIP provider Truphone, to let me know they’ve just launched their brand new international pages. So, if you’ve got friends who are interested in getting the service but aren’t in the UK or US (and don’t speak English), you can now point them to instructions and information in their local language. Plus there’s multi-lingual discussion forums to participate in, and a shop where you can buy Truphone-compatible handsets.
BBC talks to Truphone about N95 VOIP woes
May 14th
Link: Truphone Blog – Internet telephony on Nokia mobile phones
James Tagg, Truphone’s founder today appeared on BBC Radio 4′s You and Yours consumer affairs programme to discuss the controversy caused by some operators disabling internet telephony on the Nokia N95
Wicked. You can have a listen to the interview here.
Vodafone to charge more for VOIP from June
Apr 30th
Link: Vodafone’s new pricing model excludes VoIP and P2P | The Register
So you’re the proud owner of a Nokia N95 connected to Vodafone, and want to use something like Truphone, or another VOIP client. You’ve already read the bad news that in their infinite wisdom Vodafone have decided you don’t want to use VOIP as it’s an ‘inmature technology’, but that didn’t stop you finding a way around it. And now this..
Vodafone’s new pricing model for data comes in on 1 June and at a glance seems fair enough – if you use less than 0.5MB in a day you’re charged at a penny for every 5KB you use (£2 a MB), go over that and the next 14.5MB is free, then you’re back to a penny for every 5KB used.
So far so good, if not a little complicated. But then the cursory glance of the small print reveals this:
Slipped in to the conditions of use is a clause stating that VoIP and peer-to-peer services (P2P) are excluded from the offer, billed separately at £2 a megabyte, with a minimum of 5 pence per session. Skype is listed as an example of a VoIP service, but the definition of P2P is much broader, including “instant messenger services, text messaging clients, or file sharing”.
Eh? So if you make a VOIP call Vodafone will not only charge you £2 per meg, but also a minimum of 5 pence per session. Consider it a stealth ‘connection fee’ for VOIP. That is, if you can *actually use* VOIP on your Vodafone handset.
So while the rest of the industry is going off doing ‘unlimited’ (subject to fair use) data policies, Vodafone are making life more complicated – and at the same time having a jolly good go at killing off the concept of mobile VOIP.
Vodafone explains N95 crippling | The Register
Apr 20th
Vodafone explains N95 crippling | The Register
It’s been a busy few days around these parts, so we’ve kind of picked up on this a bit late. If you’ve missed it being reported on other sites, the story goes something like this.
On Wednesday this week, The Register broke the news that Orange and Vodafone are shipping Nokia N95 handsets in the UK with the VOIP capability removed. As one of the main selling points of the N95 (apart from it looks damn sexy, and does everything short of making a decent cup of tea), understandably there’s a growing backlash about what appears to be two mobile operators trying to protect their traditional voice revenue by stopping their customers using VOIP, and therefore bypassing their network.
Orange so far have said not a lot – apart from confirming they have disabled the VOIP functionality on their branded N95′s, and future VOIP-enabled handsets may – or may not – have VOIP disabled.
Vodafone, on the other hand, have said that the move was actually to protect their customers from running up unnecessarily high data bills. Uh right. Maybe they’re planning to disable the Wifi option on the N95′s too?
Trading Standards have waded into the argument, as Nokia are advertising the N95 as being VOIP-capable – but the version sold by Orange and Vodafone isn’t. Meanwhile, there’s probably someone over at the Advertising Standards Authority trying to figure out who to blame for misleading advertising.
If you’ve just bought a Vodafone or Orange-branded N95, there is a way to sort this. First, go back to the store you bought it from and shout. Very loudly. Make it clear that the lack of VOIP means your phone is useless, and you’re going to talk to the ASA, Trading Standards, Watchdog, et al, about how you feel you’ve been misled.
Second, you *could* reflash your phone to a standard Nokia version of software, instead of the operator crippled one. However, be warned – this isn’t for the faint hearted, and will most probably invalidate your warranty along the way.
If you’re a Vodafone and Orange customer finding yourself in this predicament, let me know!
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